Students in a "Literature and Ideas" introductory literature course at the University of Pittsburgh gathered a wide variety of interviews, articles, and other texts that circulated around the film "Dangerous Liaisons" to build a shared text on the popular reception of the film. One student, in particular, made sense of the work done in class by returning, in his final essay, to a class discussion on the various ways the film reviewers had "read" the film to problematize a way of reading described as "giving the author power." This student's essay shows that film can be used to bring to the surface the complex literate acts involved in reading both printed and visual texts. In either medium, there will always be gaps, fissures, blank spaces, things left unsaid--discursive spaces for the students to explore and develop. It is the role of teachers to provide an environment that fosters such self-reflexive exploration. (RS)